Alpha Zeta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. presented their Keeping Up with The AKA’S Skee Week events for Langston University. The events for the week included Heart Health Awareness, AKA-Aerobics, Petals Of Positivity, Galentines Edition, and the Last two events that unfortunately got canceled: Pretty Pop Corn & pearls and The Final Act of service.
These events were held in collaboration with people and organizations on campus like NPHC, WOP, and Langston Alumni. Due to the snowstorm, temperatures dropped to below 4 degrees with a high of 16 degrees. Causing classes to be canceled or switched to zoom.
Syrai Offiaeli, a sophomore psychology major with a minor in biology, is a member of the Skee Week committee who helped put all of this together. Knowing that the Skee Week committee has put so much hard work into the event, it made her feel very angry and frustrated that climate change interfered with their plans. From writing reports and getting things approved like events, locations and even just the thought of the events dress code as well. She wanted to give up; she knew she would never plan another Skee Week in the month of February ever again.
After speaking to her advisors, Offiaeli knew what she needed to do, and that was to plan a few virtual Skee Week Events.
On Tuesday, February 18th from 6:08- 7:08, the Alpha Zeta Chapter presented their AKA-AEROBICS event virtually, where the president Jada stretched individuals in attendance while Dacia Hindsman performed workout routines.
January 19th was Glam Edition when President Jada presented a classy & pretty make-up class. Day 5 was an NPHC Greek Night basketball game, where all Greek members came to stroll during Halftime.
The biggest adjustment for everyone was holding the events on zoom; Syrai had never seen it done before. The major adjustment was getting the word out while also ensuring the zoom links are created ahead of time to guarantee the participants have access to the zoom link. While encouraging people to attend we promoted our virtual events on our social media. Offiaeli said other organizations facing these problems should, “Definitely seek guidance … even if you feel like you’re wanting to quit, but always have a backup plan, because you know what your impact is. So, quitting should never be the resolution.”
This snowstorm did not stop them at all. As part of their pivot, AZ incorporated a winter theme into their virtual activities and posted videos on their Instagram page every day using that theme, in some cases vlogging in the snow. She has learned from having to pivot to always know the importance of having a backup plan, while being prepared and also taking advice and ideas from others. The lesson AZ wants you to learn from this slight inconvenience they encountered “Never crack under pressure. Always have a backup plan. We pivot, and we improvise. Snowstorm or not Skee Week is still going to happen.”
Kylah Goff
Kylah Goff is a junior broadcast journalism major.
